SOLVED! Post 2853 Leaking Injectors, Dealer Techs Rock! Extended Cranking after Engine Swap 3.4L 5vz

Oops, I just reread what you posted, I am guessing Eric is checking the fluids, not the dealer you bought it from? Yes?

How does he know the transmission fluid needs changing? Or the brake fluid? If that is Eric's post re: the brake fluid, looks to be okay....

Koditten, I think that is the tranny dip stick...

Tranny fluids come in different colors, not all are red/pink in color....

 

Now you are putting words into my mouth. I NEVER ONCE said that it was "awesome" for a car to be sold with 50% tread life, so stop implying such a thing. What I disagree with you on is your comment that said "For the dealer the car, even with a Honda, Toyota, etc certification, only has to pass a bare minimum standard for safety." I disagree that a certified car only has to pass minimum standards. Certified cars have a much higher standard that must be followed. What would make you happy? If the used car dealer installed all 4 tires with brand new, replaced all the brake pads and rotors with brand new, installed a new clutch (Well, I mean that can wear too) and replace all of the fluids? There is a standard for a reason. You are after all buying a USED car, not a brand new one, when you step onto a used car lot. I have told people all the time, if you do not like the looks or condition of a car, then don't buy it, or ask for it to be corrected. I bought a used Jeep years back that had somewhere around 50% of the tread left on the tires. I told them if they threw in a set of new tires I would buy it, and they did. Now maybe I am misunderstanding you as well, but it seems you expect one to walk onto a used car lot and buy a vehicle that has been fully restored. If that were the standard then I promise you used car prices would be a lot higher.

 

I think you did not read all that I wrote. We are pretty much on the same page .

I personally think that a used car should come with fairly new brakes and tires. At 66% tread left on Jen's I wouldn't worry about it too much, but at 50% I'd be asking for new tires. Actually, if the car was still unbought, I would of done exactly what I said I would of and had tires and pads worked into the deal. When you work things into the deal, you often pay less than you would to have them replaced separately at a later date. It's a no brainer in my very humble opinion on a used car.

That being said now that Jen has drove the Civic off the lot I'd just drive it until it needs new tires. The dealer was nice enough to do the brakes for free. I'd call that even.

 

No worries. That is why I asked instead of assumed you were saying different. Sometimes things get missed. I admit I get a little miffed when people talk like all dealers are crooks and techs can't be trusted, and that they just do the minimum they can do to get by. I spent over 20 years working for GM, and 2 of that as a Mentor Instructor helping to teach these upcoming guys and gals the proper way to take care of customer's cars and trucks. I hold myself, and the techs under me, to a very high standard. I have sent techs home from work for trying to pull shortcuts.

 

Overall, I'd say I've only found one instance where a tech was to blame for something on a car. In that one instance, it was something very minor and no something I would say that is indicative of the industry techs but indicative of the dealer.

Don't worry, I work with and sell GMO's and pesticides all the time. I know all about people spouting off about things they know nothing about and the lies out there that people assume are true

 

I am getting this feeling that there is some buyer's remorse going on here, justified or not....the dealer will attend to their questions as long as they bring it in prior to the 5 day buy back expiration...

Could be more looking for a car in the near future, IE: after Wednesday....

 

Eric looked at the brake fluid and transmission fluid and thinks they both appear dirty and in need of changing. The transmission fluid looks more brown than red, and the brake fluid is dirty.

Part of our frustration is that they have yet to give us the certification inspection sheet on the car. We asked for it the evening we looked at the car almost immediately after driving it, and were told that since the service dept was closed, it was unavailable.

The car drove well and appeared to be in good condition, so we decided to go ahead and buy it without a copy of the inspection, save for a paper they printed for us that stated they filled the car with gas and detailed it and had another key made.

Then when the brakes were squeaky and we took it back to have them looked at, we asked the service dept. for the certification inspection report.

They said those reports were handled by someone in the sales dept who was not in that day, so they were not able to give it to us either.

Then finally when we spoke directly with the tech that helped us with the brakes, we asked him if we could have a blank copy of the certification inspection checklist, to at least be able to see what was supposed to have been done in order for it to pass certification.

We're going through it (and the other paperwork they gave us) now, and Eric also just noticed an alignment and TB cleaning were recommended to the previous owner ~6K miles ago. I understand this is a used car, but an identical Civic without the certification would have been nearly $1K less on KBB. We paid the KBB certified price PLUS $300, because the car had supposedly been given to us in better than an average used car condition. I definitely still think the car is a great car and want to keep it IF they will bring it up to the condition it should be in for the price we paid, and I think (and hope!) they will. They were very accommodating yesterday, so we have no reason so far to think that they won't do the right thing.

 

Lets say you had purchased one without the Certification, you would not have the dealer to fall back on....I am sure the dealer will attend to all your questions and do the maintenance....the last thing they want to do is take it back now, trust me....the throttle body cleaning, eh, as long as the air filter was changed regularly, doubt it is needed, and as far as the alignment goes, that is just another ploy to make some $$$, if you are really concerned, take it to an alignment shop, most will check it for a small fee or for free....unless the car was abused, the alignment should still be spot on, does it pull to one side or does the steering wheel not return to center on its own?...heck, except for one alignment check on my Taco after major front end parts replacement, it has held for the full 285,000 I have owned it....even with subsequent checks, and now 143,000 on the new parts, it is all good....

 

You may be right about the car sitting and collecting rust...in fact you are right because I walked into the mechanics bay when he had the pads off and he was greasing them and getting ready to put them right back on. I asked him what did they mic at, and he said between 5 and 6mm. I looked at them and thought to myself 2 things...number one if I was in my driveway at home looking at these on my old '93, I would definitely be putting new pads on right now...and number 2, we just paid for a certified car that was newer so I didn't have to crawl around on a gravel driveway anytime soon (unless its for the Tacoma of course ).

 

Used car, used parts...

See if they will fix what you are unhappy with. Go through everything and make a list. BTW you are about to end up on that dealers naughty list jks

 

Hope the new car works out for you Jen. Brake fluid should be almost clear, and the trans fluid should not have a pungent odor. A slight petrol smell is there, but you can tell if it smells burnt or not. At 55K, I would say they should be fine, and a really good previous owner would have changed the trans fluid out at 3-5K,, but most don't. Always good to talk to the previous owners on a used car deal,,if that can happen.

That being said, I would have bought the Corolla. Now wish that I would have kept mine years ago. 1600 5 speed with A/C that worked awesome.

 

I dunno. I can't get worked up over brakes and tires. They are supposed to wear, so something very expensive does not.

Yeah, too bad you didn't have a set of pads to bend to the mechanic while he had it apart. You are still ahead of the game...You now know exactly how much life is left on those brakes. Your ahead of 99percent of the population.

 

Jen, before you go off half cocked, remember, certified just means they check everything, it DOES NOT mean then change fluids that need to be changed such as tranny, PS, or brake fluid but they usually do an oil change.

all they do is make sure the car is safe to drive as-is and that's it. it doesn't mean all maint items are checked and made like new with fresh fluids.

all these items so far are just the "so what" category of stuff they never do

 

No, we're good on the brakes now - they put new pads on and resurfaced the rotors for us, so we're totally happy about that.

Again everyone, we realize it's a used car. Our point is, we paid KBB CERTIFIED pre owned Honda price PLUs $300 more, we expect it to be given to us in a condition consistent with that. I do think they'll do the right thing though, they were good to us when we mentioned the brakes. We're going through the blank inspection sheet the tech gave us, so that hopefully this can be our last call/visit to them.

@keakar , just saw your post. The certified inspection sheet states that they are supposed to change the tranny fluid and brake fluid if they are dirty, in order for it to pass the certification inspection. They are dirty, yet we paid the certified price. That's our point - we just want what we paid for, no one is half cocked. We simply plan to ask them to bring the car to the condition we paid for it to be in.

 

We've created a monster. She has all this vehicle knowledge and she is not afraid to use it!

 

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Let's be honest guys, if it were most of us at this point we'd just bite the bullet and change the fluids ourselves. As for the tires and brakes @koditten, I agree that they are wear items on a used car. However, in most cases, unless the dealer has already changed them recently you are better off financially working them into the deal than even doing it yourself. That's been my experience anyways, and that was my point.

 

remember the things they recommended you needed to do on your old civic? like 10 years ago and you never did them.

the recommended stuff could simply just be attempts to make money doing unnecessary but still useful and "justifiable" maint repairs so I wouldn't assume it means those thing "need" doing, but I would still do my own investigation by testing for steering drift on straight flat roads and looking inside the intake tube, if its clean then so is the TB

 

We considered that briefly (doing the stuff ourselves), hence our search yesterday for Haynes and Chilton on it.

Then we thought, why should we have to spend our time/money bringing it to a condition consistent with the certified price we paid plus some, within days of purchasing it? We shouldn't, plain and simple. And I don't think that's unreasonable at all. I think it's being a wise consumer, and I think they'll be accommodating to our requests.

 

It's not so much that I disagree that the car should of come with the fluids in the proper condition. I'm one of those people though that also doesn't want to become a black mark for the dealer. Should something iffy go wrong, a dealer that you work with and give some advantages to is usually going to go further for you than one you bug over every little thing.

I'd mention it to the shop foreman and see what he says. If he acts surprised and offers to do them let him. If he drags out the inspection report or seems flustered I'd probably let it go just to potentially bypass a future headache.

BTW, going back the the inspection @BamaToy1997 how often do the higher end shop techs do the inspection? I have a feeling this dealer may be using someone newer who is missing things or not quite doing their job, for whatever reason. Could be as simple as a lack of proper experience or training, which would be the dealers fault. Sort of like those million point inspections dealers do every oil change that often miss things anyways. I received a nice shiny inspection sheet after one of my oil changes with 140 something points "checked" and yet they left a socket in the little tray up by the windshield and a oil catch bottle under the oil filter....